Mesenchymal stem cell-derived conditioned medium demonstrates antifungal activity against ocular isolates of Candida...

Ocular fungal infections are potentially sight threatening and their treatment is challenged by increasing burden of antifungal resistance. This study, in search of novel therapeutic strategies, aims to evaluate the antifungal efficacy of mesenchymal stem cell-derived conditioned medium (MSC-CM) derived from human adipose tissue (AD), bone marrow (BM), dental pulp (DP), and umbilical cord (UC) sources against ocular clinical isolates of Candida albicans and Aspergillus flavus. The effect of MSC-CM on fungal growth was evaluated by colony-forming unit assay, whereas morphological alterations were assessed using scanning electron microscopy (SEM). MSC-CM from all four tissue sources significantly inhibited the growth of C. albicans and A. flavus. Compared with control, AD-MSC-CM showed comparatively greater reduction across both the ATCC (36.17 × 10⁹ CFU/mL vs 1.52 × 10⁹ CFU/mL)) and ocular clinical strains (51.30 × 10¹⁰ CFU/mL vs 1.07 × 10¹⁰ CFU/mL) of C. albicans whereas DP-MSC-CM demonstrated the highest inhibition for A. flavus (ATCC: 17.14 × 10¹⁰ CFU/mL vs 2.003 × 10¹⁰ CFU/mL, and Clinical: 4.91 × 10¹² CFU/mL vs 0.710 × 10¹² CFU/mL). SEM imaging confirmed morphological damage, including surface irregularities, invaginations, and cell wall deformations in MSC-CM-treated fungi. These findings, for the first time, present a proof-of-concept that MSC-CM may serve as a promising anti-fungal agent for fungal keratitis.